“I called one of the poll workers over,” Bostick said. “She said do it again. And again, I touched the screen at the proper place for Kay Hagan, and it again reported it for Thom Tillis.”

On his fourth attempt, the machine registered the vote for Hagan. Another poll worker decided to cancel the ballot altogether and directed Bostick to an adjacent machine, where he was able to cast his ballot without any issues.

The problematic machine was taken out of service.

That was the latest instance of that issue being reported but is by no means the only problem being reported.

Charlie Collicutt, Guilford County elections director, said his office has received 14 reports of voting problems since early voting started Oct. 23, including seven from people who became concerned after they got home.

While Republicans chase ghosts called voter fraud, they may do better, if their goal is to protect the sanctity of voting, if they would ensure that bugs in voting machines don’t corrupt the vote. They aren’t though and you shouldn’t expect them to anytime soon. Not as long as the bug is working in their favor.